Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Flawless Sabrina

Queer Ancestor Spotlight
Written By White Rose Witching

Mother Flawless Sabrina was a New York City-based American LGBT activist and drag queen. She was one of the first widely known drag queens in the United States, and was considered a pioneer for the transgender and drag communities.

Flawless Sabrina, at the 5 East 73rd St apartment, by Diane Arbus

Flawless Sabrina was born Jack Doroshow on September 10, 1939, in South Philadelphia to a Jewish and Italian family. While studying psychology at the University of Pennsylvania they coordinated a drag pageant in Philadelphia after seeing their first drag show in New York City. This pageant would be come the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant. Doroshow saw potential in these pageants and saw they needed a figure to help move them forward. That figure was the drag queen Flawless Sabrina. This persona was a pushy Jewish grandmother who could run the show without making the other contestants feel threated. The moniker ‘Mother’ was added to highlight that she was not a contestant.

Sabrina was rocketed into the public eye with the documentary The Queen, which captured the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest in New York City. Her notoriety provoked anger not just in conservative and right-wing religious circles but also within the gay community. During this time transgender persons and drag queens were not welcome members in the community. Many felt the national spotlight on drag performers would negatively impact the fight for equal rights. During the filming of The Queen, Sabrina refers to an apartment on the Upper East Side. She would live in that apartment for the next 50 years. As she took on the title of ‘Mother’ in her shows this translated to real life, and she became a mentor to may gay and bisexual men, transgender persons, and drag queens.

Flawless Sabrina died on November 8, 2017 at the age of 78. Prior to her death a Kickstarter was created to help fund the creation of the “Flawless Sabrina Archive” and to help prevent her from getting evicted from her apartment. The archive was started by two of Sabrina’s mentees, Zackary Drucker and Diana Tourjee. The archive ensure Flawless Sabrina remains a figure capable of providing guidance and direction to future generations of the community.

White Rose Witching
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